Comments on: Poll: Obama Beating Republicans In Stim Battle

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:11:15 +0000

DanP
Understood. I don’t want to hear about Johnny either. Or Joe the Plumber. Those of us who come out of an academic or scientific background (and other traditions marked by care in thought) are properly wary of the anecdotal. Not to mention the downright cheesy.
Really, I’m just tossing up the reminder that wonk-speak doesn’t have broad appeal.

By: AmiBlue

AmiBlue — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:44:50 +0000

“A nice simple lesson in macroeconomics tonight would go a long way.”

I agree completely, DanP and this is where President Obama has done less than a stellar jobfor the stimulus package. He proved in the campaign that he could explain complicated things in an adult fashion so that everyone understands them. If he informs and convices the American people, the republicans will follow along, whether they like it or not.

By: Danp

Danp — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:32:07 +0000

Bernie Latham – (Forgive the paraphrase)The right is better at putting a face to the problem in order to explain it.

True. Unfortunately, the left do it too often, but poorly. I don’t want to hear that Jimmy Oneleg is losing his job, but if you can show how the AMT wouldn’t have helped him in any meaningful way, or the electric grid project provides jobs with similar skills and pay to his former job, great.

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:31:05 +0000

I think Tomasky’s piece is pretty damned astute. What do you guys think?

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:12:28 +0000

This is pretty funny, just up from David Kurtz
Tomasky: “I love the smell of stimulus spending in the morning. It smells like … victory.”
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:57:56 +0000

DanP wrote: “A nice simple lesson in macroeconomics tonight would go a long way.”
Only if, I’d suggest, the lesson(s) are made personal…”have a face put to them” in the jargon. Drew Westen and others who’ve researched how our cognition actually functions in response to different sorts of appeals make it pretty clear that we have commonly failed to frame issues in the manner which actually reaches people. The right, by contrast, have been brighter about this.

By: Tena

Tena — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:11:17 +0000

Obama is on top of this situation with the public, to judge by the public response which means the Republicans are just digging a deeper hole for themselves with their almost gleeful obstruction.

By: CT Voter

CT Voter — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:59:52 +0000

Argh. 51 + 29 = 80%.

By: CT Voter

CT Voter — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:59:28 +0000

Those numbers square. 51% (critically important) + 29 (important) = 50%. If anything, more people now want to see something done, rather than fewer.

But I understand that conventional fiction, er, wisdom is telling us that Americans are “souring” on the plan. Will this poll get as much play as Rasmussen’s?

By: Danp

Danp — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:55:14 +0000

A nice simple lesson in macroeconomics tonight would go a long way. Especially if it explains specifically how education spending, food stamps, medical research and tax cuts each stimulate in different ways, and to different degrees.

By: Greg Sargent

Greg Sargent — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:40:40 +0000

yeah, I’d forgotten that number. I think the question here is how Obama and/or Dems can capitalize on the GOP’s rising disapproval numbers to get more of what they want in the bill.

By: Danp

Danp — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:32:45 +0000

How do you square "51% say it's critically important to pass something" with Gallup's Feb 3 poll which shows "Three in four Americans (75%) want Congress to pass some version of President Obama's economic stimulus package"? If the suggestion is that support has eroded, I'm not buying it. I think it has more to do with manipulating public perception through polls.